For many fans, this year's Play-In stage of the World Championship was the most exciting yet. It featured some of the closest and most nail-biting games we've ever gotten during a play-in stage, which historically has been quite straightforward. Typically we see the major region teams dominate everyone, like at 2022 Worlds where no minor region team progressed to the group stage. The changes they made this year with the introduction of the new swiss style format allowed for a much more thrilling and hopeful viewing experience. At varying points throughout the tournament several teams had a real shot of making it to the swiss stage. Many of you will undoubtedly know that we saw Europe's Team BDS and Vietnams' GAM Esports make it out. However, this was far from a settled affair, as Vietnams' #2 seed Team Whales, Brazil's LOUD, and of course PCS #1 seed PSG Talon all had real shots at making it happen at varying points in the tournament. While this years' Play-In stage was certainly chaotic and entertaining, what takeaways does it leave us with?
GAM Esports' fundamentals are rock solid
Coming into this year, the quality of the VCS was in some doubt. At the last 2 international tournaments, 2022 Worlds and 2023 MSI, GAM received a sound thrashing from the competition. At MSI they even got eliminated after 2 losses to NA's Golden Guardians and Latin America's Rainbow7. Despite being Vietnam's premier team, they were not getting international results. So GAM's management made the bold decision to make some roster changes going into summer, introducing Slayder and Palette to the roster as replacement for the bot lane. It's safe to say this was a good move; While it was risky to change the roster after winning the trophy in spring, the team has grown tremendously throughout summer and the Play-In stage. Palette's addition especially has brought much needed direction to GAM's gameplay, and his clutch decision making has been a major factor in a lot of their wins. While they certainly had some questionable games that resulted in a lower bracket run, their impressive series against Team Whales showcased how well-rounded of a team they've become. They were able to weather the storm of Team Whales' chaotic gameplay, through Unfortunately, they're going to need more than just solid fundamentals if they want to go further than the swiss stage. Regardless, they showed why they are a cut above the other minor region teams.
Team BDS can beat anyone and lose to anyone
If nothing else, the performance of Team BDS in Play-Ins showed they have extremely high potential but also extremely questionable matches. They were a hair away from being eliminated by PSG Talon 3-0 after being defeated by Team Whales 2-1 in their group. However, they pulled off the reverse sweep in impressive fashion off the back of their bread and butter, Adam's Garen, Olaf, and Darius and exquisite engages from Labrov. At times, this team looks like one of the best in Europe, and at others, it looks worse than most of the minor region teams. They make some really goofy mistakes in game, like Nuc's 1v1 against Maple's Sylas, but their teamplay has been making up for it so far. It's yet to be seen if this will prove effective in the swiss stage, especially since their first opponents are JDG. Most people have written off that game, but with how explosive best of 1s can be, there is a world where BDS pulls off an upset by playing the game their way. Don't get me wrong; JDG are heavy favorites, but BDS have shown they're not a team to be underestimated. I won't make that mistake again, that's for sure.
The meta is not set in stone
Aside from the bot lane where we're seeing a consistent rotation of Kai'sa and Xayah, while there are a few standout picks like Rakan and Renekton, there seems to be a lot of room for creativity this Worlds. In the mid lane mages like Azir and Orianna are thriving but there are also some spicy AD picks like Jayce and Tristana seeing play. In top lane Adam showed the effectiveness of the GODS champs (Garen, Olaf, Darius, and Sett) but your holdover picks from summer like K'sante and Jax are still being picked a lot. The one area where the meta seems pretty locked in is engage supports, aside from Senna (and kind of Taric) every support picked at Worlds is an engage/tank champ. It will be interesting to see if this changes in the swiss stage, but with the current state of the game I find it unlikely we see a return of enchanter supports. Aside from that, though, we've seen teams play through bot lane, mid lane, and top lane (*cough* BDS *cough*). Creative coaches will be able to find ways to buck the system and squeak out wins through brilliant strategy. It will certainly be exciting to see what shakes out as the swiss stage begins. Tune in tonight to watch Worlds kick off with T1 vs Team Liquid at 10:00PM PST.
All photo credits to LoL Esports.
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